Surrey title hat-trick ‘very fitting’ for departing Alec Stewart – Gareth Batty

Alec Stewart will sign off as director of cricket at his beloved Surrey with a historic third successive Vitality County Championship title secured.

The former England captain is stepping down from his position after 11 years at the end of the domestic season at a club he represented with distinction as a player for nearly a quarter of a century.

Stewart told the BBC he intends to “still be around the place”, either watching in the stands or in a background role, but his perfect swansong is guaranteed after Somerset’s loss at Lancashire on Friday.

It means Surrey, who beat Durham on Thursday, are Division One champions and the first county to win a three consecutive red-ball crowns since Yorkshire’s three-peat between 1966 and 1968.

“For Stewie to get three in three, it’s very fitting for a man who deserves all the plaudits,” head coach Gareth Batty told the PA news agency. “He is Surrey through-and-through.

“He was as a player, he has been as director of cricket. His skillsets and achievements are irreplaceable. There is no man in world cricket that can come and replace Stewie in the role he does.”

Stewart announced before the 2024 campaign his intention to step aside from his high-profile role in order to spend more time with his family, especially wife Lynn, who has been battling cancer.

It has been seen in football – with Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and latterly Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool – that influential figures announcing their departures ahead of time can be destabilising.

“Make no mistake, it was difficult for the club to comprehend Stewie not being here every single day,” Batty said. “To say it didn’t rock us is a lie, of course it did, because it’s Alec Stewart.

“I don’t want to undermine any of that but it’s credit also to him that we have things set up.

“The way we are trying to move forward with our structures, with our policies in place for our players to grow and for the club to grow also. That all comes through Stewie, everything goes through him.

“Because of what’s in place and the excellence we’re trying to achieve every single day, we just had enough in the tank to be able to get over the line and put one in the trophy cabinet for Stewie.”

Surrey’s 23rd triumph came in a season where 23 players were used, with the Kia Oval club having to make do without the likes of England trio Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson for large spells.

Dan Worrall and Jordan Clark have excelled with the ball, combining for 80 wickets, while captain Rory Burns has led from the front with 1,057 runs, including three centuries, at an average of 55.63.

After underwhelming returns last year, averaging below 30 without a hundred in 14 outings, Batty revealed Burns has been rewarded for striving to get better.

“Rory should be put up in lights,” Batty said. “As far as I’m concerned, in the modern generation, he’s comfortably the most successful captain in domestic cricket. He keeps improving as a cricketer as well.

“Anybody that’s watched him 18 months ago and watches him as a player now, it’s a transformation. He’s absolutely paramount to everything that goes on here and long may it continue.

“They always used to say (ex-Australia captain) Steve Waugh never got easy runs, he always got the difficult runs and I think Rory’s very much of that mould for us.”

While they revel in their triumph, Surrey, who were county champions seven times in a row between 1952 and 1958, are not yet satisfied and Batty is already looking at extending their hegemony.

“It was the ’50s where Surrey had a wonderful run and the boys talk about it now,” Batty, whose side finish their season at Essex next week, added.

“Our guys understand the history of the club and they want leave a mark. We’ll enjoy today, of course we will, but we’ll roll our sleeves up tomorrow and we’ll get some work done.”